May 2022 Prayer Letter

 

Baptismal Service!

Without question the biggest event of the past month was the baptismal service we held on May 8^th. What a joy it was to see eight young adults profess their faith and follow the Lord in believers’ baptism. We rented the large auditorium which is located directly above the coffee shop where we usually hold our services. It not only has a built-in baptismal tank but also a much larger seating capacity. We didn’t get an exact count, but I would estimate that we had 150-180 in attendance. 

Almost all the young people baptized were from unchurched families, so we had many unbelievers in attendance. Our guest speaker was Pastor Samuel Mike who has a real gift for evangelism. He gave a clear presentation of the Gospel, and several people lifted their hands asking for prayer for salvation. It was also a joy to hear the testimonies of those who were baptized. Every story was unique, and I am always amazed to see how God works to bring people to Himself! We closed out the service with a great time of food and fellowship.

This was by far the biggest event we have had since our grand opening more than two years ago. It was a huge encouragement to our people to see the fruits of their labors. I am also curious to see what new fruit we will see as a result of this service. I am praying that many of these visitors will return and that the Gospel seeds planted would bear fruit in the future. 

Prayer Requests:

1. On May 22^nd and May 29^th we will be holding membership classes for people interested in church membership. Several families have already registered, and we are looking forward to seeing who all will come. We continue to pray for 25 new members in 2022. 

2. Pentecost Monday (June 6^th) is a national holiday in Hungary. We are planning a cookout and picnic that day. We will be encouraging our people to bring visitors as well to give them a chance to connect with our church. Please pray for a great time of fellowship and relationship building.

3. We have had 20 children register thus far for our summer English day camp. Most of these are from the public school where Charin teaches. We are praying for 40 children - primarily from unchurched families. Please pray with us to this end!

 

Thanks so much for standing with us in your prayers and support! 

Marc and Charin Patton

April 2022 - Prayer Letter

Discipleship:

Andras and Nelli

One part of our discipleship pathway is our “First Steps” discipleship for new converts. We designed this material to be used one on one, laying the foundation for Christian faith. The young couple pictured (Andras and Nelli) were just married in December. They are preparing for baptism in May. I have been taking them through the First Steps material. We also have six others going through this material. Charin is working with two ladies, and we have four other church members working with the other four. Doing discipleship this way makes it much more personal, allows for deeper relationships, and also allows us to involve more people in ministry. It has been a joy to see the growth in both those being discipled and in those doing the discipleship!

 

Leadership Training:

Leadership Training

On March 22^nd we launched our leadership training. I have been working with our worship pastor on developing our curriculum. We will be meeting once each month on Tuesday evenings for about 2 ½ hours. We currently have nine young adults participating. Each session has a mixture of teaching, discussion, and prayer. We are also trying to give them opportunities to serve alongside our current leaders. It is our goal to raise up the next generation of leaders for Focus Church and for our future church plants. Please pray for wisdom and effectiveness in this ministry. 

 

Easter Outreach:

Recording of worship videos

The Lord laid on our worship pastor’s heart the vision to produce two quality music videos for the Easter season. Daniel wrote two new worship songs: one about the cross, and one about the resurrection. We then recorded both songs professionally. The song on the cross will be released on Good Friday, and the resurrection song on Easter Sunday. These will go out on all our media platforms. Please pray that they will be used to encourage believers and to be a testimony to the lost of our hope in Christ. If you are not currently following us, you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube and catch these releases. The name of our church in Hungarian is Fokusz Gyulekezet.

 

A look ahead:

1. We are planning a baptismal service for May 8^th. We will be renting the 400-seat theatre which is above our coffee shop. We are praying for a big attendance with many visitors. 

2. We have begun advertising our summer English day camp, and a number of children from Charin’s school have already signed up. We are praying for 40 children - primarily from unchurched families.  

3. We also continue to pray for our goal of 10 baptisms and 25 new members in 2022.

 

Thanks so much for standing with us in your prayers and support! 

 

March 2022 - Video Update

Dear Friends,

Here is a brief video update sharing our vision for the next few years. Enjoy!

Marc

January 2022 Prayer Letter

Family Time!!!

It is a rare thing to have all our kids together at the same time, but God blessed us with that opportunity this Christmas. Our children are “scattered to the four winds.” We hadn’t all been together since our oldest daughter’s wedding almost three years ago. Nancy and Keith live in California, Ben and Kelsi in Zanzibar, Africa; Esther is in Florida, and Hannah Grace is studying at Cedarville University in Ohio. Of course, the highlight of it all was to have our granddaughter Wonder here! She is 14 months old and a bundle of energy. 

 

 

Church growth:

On December 12^th we received 8 new adults into the membership. David and Dominika are a young couple with their first baby. They recently moved to Budapest and were looking for a church. Rebeka married one of our young men this past summer. Jonatan began attending with his wife this past summer. His wife recently got saved and is in our discipleship program. The other four are single young ladies. Lidi plays violin for an orchestra in Budapest. Betty is an intern at Word of Life Hungary. Szandra is studying to be a preschool teacher, and Eszter teaches at a school for the blind. Each brings unique gifts and value to our ministry, and we are looking forward to seeing how God will use them in our church!

 

Youth Outreach:

Our youth meetings seem to be feast or famine. On December 4^th we held a Christmas party for youth. Once again, we had a great turnout of more than 20. We are now doing one youth meeting each month on Saturdays. Please pray that we will see a good core group formed. It was also a blessing to have one of our young men bring the message. It was the first time I have heard Gergo speak, and he did a great job!

 

A look ahead:

 

1.  January will be a busy month of planning and preparation for the new year. Please pray especially for our all-day leadership team meeting on January 22^nd!

2. Please pray for our next two youth meeting that will be held on January 15^th and February 5^th.

3. Please pray for seven adults who are now going through discipleship and preparation for baptism.

4. We continue to have visitors every week. Please pray that we will see many of these become regular attenders. 

5. We are praying for 10 baptisms and 25 new members in 2022.

 

Thanks so much for another year of faithful prayers and support! 

Christmas 2021

New Members

December Youth Meeting

November 2021 Prayer Letter

 November 2021

We’re two years old!

Focus Church celebrated its 2^nd anniversary on September 26^th! It has been a crazy time trying to plant a church in the middle of the Covid pandemic, but the Lord has been so faithful. It was a joy to look back at all God has done during the past two years. We also did an interview with three of our members who were with us from the beginning. They also shared their perspective of being a part of a church plant. All in all, it was a great day of rejoicing.

 

Church growth:

“Some plant and some water, but God gives the increase.” We stand in awe of how God is growing His church! Each Sunday we have first-time and return visitors, and in October we held two events after our regular service where we met with prospective members and shared the vision of Focus Church. At the end, 19 adults expressed interested in either baptism or church membership. We are beginning discipleship programs with the nine who have not yet been baptized, and we have also been meeting personally with the others who have already been baptized in the past and are now requesting church membership. Lord willing, we will be adding these new members before the end of the year.

 

Youth Outreach:

Our desire to launch a regular youth meeting has faced many challenges. We tried two different Friday evenings, and no teens showed up for either event. We then decided to try doing one Saturday each month. On November 6^th we invited the teens to a hike and had a great turnout. We are planning a Christmas event for December 4^th. We have a great team of willing workers, but we are still praying for that core group of teens around which we can build a youth group. Please join us in prayer to that end!

Church Office:

We got the keys to our new office around the first of October. We are so blessed for this opportunity. The office is in the same building we use for Sundays, so it has given us a great base of operation for our ministry. 

 

A look ahead:

 

1) Please pray for the nine adults going through our “First Steps” discipleship program. We are praying for each to have a clear understanding of salvation and to gain a good foundation for their faith. 

2) Please pray that we would do a good job integrating the new members into the church. 

3) Please pray for our next youth event planned for December 4^th. 

4) Please pray for a blessed holiday season for both our family and the church. 

2 year anniversary - interview

Youth Outing

New Office

 

September Prayer Letter

Here is our September update!

Youth Outreach:

August 14th teens

Thank you for praying for our August 14^th youth program. We were thrilled to see about 25 teens show up! As we mentioned in our previous letter, these were all teens who had attended English Camp in July. We had a great time of games, songs, food and fellowship. We also introduced our church and shared our desire to start regular youth meetings in the Fall. Our first one will be held on September 10^th. We are praying for a solid base of at least 8-10 teens to get started. We have about 10 church members who are planning to be involved in this ministry. Please pray for us to be able to launch a strong youth ministry that will be capable of reaching and discipling teenagers who do not have any church background. 

 

Family Camp:

August 18-22 we held our first family camp in Diosjeno, Hungary. We had about 45 of our people participate. During our five days together, we balanced teaching times with time for sports, games and relaxation. We also tried to do some things we don’t generally do on Sundays, such as a prayer night, a worship night, and a testimony night. One morning we also split the men and the women for separate sessions. We felt like God used camp to draw us closer to him and closer to each other.

Family Camp Hike

 

Passing of Charin’s Dad:

In mid-August we received word that Charin’s father was seriously ill and in the hospital. The day before our camp, Charin decided to fly back to the States to be there with her parents during this time. God gave her four days with her dad before he passed away on August 21^st. We were so glad that she had this time with him. The funeral was held a few days later, and two of our daughters were also able to attend. Charin returned to Hungary on the 27^th just two days before she started her new teaching job. Although this was a very difficult time emotionally, we are thankful to know that her father is with the Lord with no more pain or illness. Please pray for Charin’s mother as she adjusts to her new life without her husband of more than 50 years. Please pray for Charin and the rest of the children and grandchildren as they deal with this loss.

Charin and her dad last summer when he was still healthy

 

I do apologize for not dropping an extra email during this time. Some of you may not be aware that we have a special Facebook group called Focus Church Budapest Prayer Team. I share weekly updates and quick prayer requests on that page. Please let me know if you would like to be a part of this group, and I will get you added.

 

A look ahead:

Four prayer requests for September:

1) Charin’s new job- teaching English at a school here in Budapest. Please pray for her to have opportunities to reach out to students, parents and teachers.

2) Lord willing, we will begin renting an office for our church in the same building complex where we hold our Sunday services. This will give us both a place to work, and also a place to hold smaller weekday meetings.

3) September 10^th we will launch our biweekly youth nights. Please pray for a faithful base of 8-10 teens.

4) September 26^th will be the second anniversary of Focus Church. Please pray for growth - both spiritual and numerical and that we will stay focused on making disciples for the glory of the Lord.

 

God bless,

 

Marc and Charin Patton

 

July Prayer Letter

We’ve Moved!

View from our apartment

We received the key to our new apartment on June 23rd. We spent the next week painting and getting the apartment ready. On June 30th we made the big move. We were so thankful for lots of help on both ends. Some of our people from the church in Esztergom helped us load up in Tat, and then about seven of our men from Focus Church helped us unload in Budapest. I think they had the harder job, as they had to carry everything up 58 steps to our second-floor apartment. We have spent the past two weeks getting unpacked and organized, and we feel like we are almost there. Our bathroom renovation was delayed, so we are still waiting on that, but otherwise we are pretty much done. Charin did a great job planning things and everything looks so nice. We’ve already had guests over several times and look forward to that being a regular part of our lives and ministry. We are a six-minute drive from our church location, and short trolley ride from downtown, do it is so nice to have everything so close. Thank you for your prayers and extra donations during this transition time!

 

Focus Church:

Covid restrictions have been eased over the past few weeks, and we no longer have to wear masks. We feel like we are finally getting back to normal. Services have been great. With summer here, we have a lot of our members gone, but every Sunday we have had visitors. We are really excited about a young man named Richard. He and his mother have come off and on for more than a year, but ever since we reopened in May, he has come pretty much every week, and every Sunday he brings visitors! One Sunday he had five visitors with him. Some of them have come back. Please pray for him to be saved, and all the visitors he is bringing to become committed followers of the Lord.

 

English Camp for Teens:

Because of our move, we didn’t even try to do our own English Camp this year, but we decided to help out with a youth camp run by another mission organization. They run an English camp each summer primarily for unchurched/unsaved teens, and often have teens make decisions during the week. They were looking for a partner church in Budapest to direct these teens too, so we decided to partner with them. Five of our young people helped out all week at their camp, and Charin and I also went down for a couple of days. We made lots of good contacts. Several teens from Budapest made decisions during the week, and we are hoping to connect them with our church. We are also hoping to use these contacts to start a youth ministry in the Fall. We will be holding a special event on August 14^th, and we will invite all the camp participants from Budapest to attend. Please pray for it to go well. The teens of Hungary need Christ, and we want to have a part in reaching them!

 

Family Camp:

And please pray for our first family camp that we will hold from August 18-22 in Diosjeno, Hungary. It looks like we will have about 50 people in attendance. We are praying that it will help our people connect more deeply with each other and with the Lord. We also are praying that some of our new people will come and get to know Focus Church a little better.

 

New Field Address:

I would also ask that all of our supporting churches to update our field address:

Marc and Charin Patton

Villanyi ut 76 2/4

Budapest, 1113

Hungary

 

God bless,

 

Marc and Charin Patton